The Genetic Strand by Edward Ball could be summarized as “CSI” meets “Ancestors in the Attic.” Readers who are interested in forensic genealogy should not shy away from reading this book if they fear becoming hopelessly mired in science content. Be assured that Ball does a spectacular job condensing the complex world of DNA testing into understandable vocabulary for non-science folks (e.g. “[chromosomes] are DNA… they are the luggage that carries the genes.”)

A decrepit secretary desk crafted sometime between 1790 and 1810 is handed down through the generations and ends up in the author’s possession. While cleaning it, he discovers a secret compartment with several hair samples taken from earlier generations of Ball’s family, roughly mid-1700s to mid-1800s when it was common practice to collect hair samples. Readers may remember that Edward Ball also wrote “Slaves in the Family,” the 1998 National Book Award winner that meticulously chronicles not only his own 300-year family history, but also the descendents of the families who worked on the Ball plantations. He brings the Ball family under scrutiny once again as he tackles the modern world of genetic testing using the biological evidence they left behind.

Inspired by the fortuitous discovery of the hair samples, Ball decides to create a “genetic memoir,” one that would confirm or refute family chronicles that often contain hearsay. The premise of the book is simple: Could genetic tests tell us what we really are, in a verifiable, scientific sense?

Using the hair samples for DNA analysis the author receives test results that baffle and intrigue him, leading him to explore possible indiscretions in his family’s history that may have been taboo or were simply hushed up and lost over time. In his eagerness, Ball demonstrates how easy it is to get caught up in the possibilities of how generations might have diluted the blood line.

Of particular interest is the case of his great grandmother, Kate Fuller, whose entire ethnicity and lineage is abruptly called into question as a result of one particular DNA analysis.

No genetic analysis would be complete without also discussing population movement such as the “out of Africa” theory, that anatomically modern humans had originated in Africa, then had migrated out and around the world some 100,000 years ago. It is through genetic mutations and the markers they leave behind for future generations that link modern DNA to human origins in Africa, Asia, Europe or North America.

The moral of the story is that science is not omniscient. Realizing that the tests are not flawless, even in the exacting world of DNA analysis, Ball takes the hair samples for multiple testing to a variety of genetic labs throughout the US, Canada and the UK. The author acknowledges the subjectivity of using old hair samples. Considering that “[age] is bad, water is bad and heat is bad” the fact that these hair samples “stewed” in a hot, humid environment (Charleston, South Carolina) for 200 years is one reason to take the DNA results with a grain of salt.

One minor aspect of this book disappointed me. Ball does not include citations for the supporting academic articles to which he refers throughout the book. I would have thought that for all the effort Ball made to be scientifically thorough and accurate he would have included more of his sources in footnotes or appendices. He drops notable scientific journal names without further comment. For example “[he’s] published on these markers in journals such as Genome Research and the American Journal of Human Genetics.” As a science geek I would have appreciated more detail on these papers.

This book deftly marries science and genealogy. However, readers looking for scandalous discoveries about the genetic purity of the Ball family will be disappointed. The author generalizes the DNA testing experience to what it means for the future trends of genealogy, rather than focusing on how the results influence his own ancestors. As the author states, “the surprises come from what the scientists do to the evidence, not from their revelations about it.”

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. The author has an engaging and amusing style of writing, describing his initial discovery of the hair samples as “little extras Louis and Mary Leakey might have kept on the mantel.” The book reads as a narrative and is aimed at people who are keen to jump on the forensic bandwagon to shake out “real” relationships and ethnicities in the family tree. The topic is appearing increasingly in professional genealogy magazines (e.g. “From DNA to Genetic Genealogy,” APG Quarterly, Mar 2009) and, judging by the number of websites devoted to genetic testing and genealogy, is becoming more mainstream for the amateur family historian. It is not really a book readers need to keep in a personal library, but worthwhile to read if one is considering DNA testing of family members.

Why a blog?

Family history just fascinates me. And not just my own. There are many facts and people that have been lost to time. I really enjoy puzzles and sometimes I come across some really interesting mysteries in my genealogy travels. I'll post some of my musings here.